Yeah, pun totally intended!
We have reached many milestones since my last post! Every little step, every day that passes, we get closer and closer to our goal!
Eddie Graduated!
The last month of his senior year has been a whirlwind of activity. Senior awards, prom, graduation, graduation parties. The best part for me is that he is beaming and has been soaking it all up! He’s a man of few words and I probably wouldn’t describe him as gleeful. He’s positive, confident, smart, capable, content, but gleeful? No. Too macho for that. However, over the past month, I can see the joy that’s spread across his heart. Is it because he is done with high school and now on summer break? Or is it he sees the finishing stretch and independence is in his grasp? Probably both and everything in between.
He did every activity including going for a walk through of all of his previous schools and visiting many of his teachers of the past. I was surprised by this but I am so glad he didn’t skip anything.
And, his momma held up pretty well. I had some strange teary moments during the oddest times – arriving to his senior awards, during a voice recording from the school, and setting up for his grad party. For the actual graduation and other activities I smiled and radiated his joy back to him. I know the hard part is ahead, but as I watch him move towards his next chapter and set new goals, it’s hard to focus on the changes ahead with anything other than excitement for him. Ask me after actually dropping him off to college.
We Sold our House!
We put our house on the market on a Monday. We didn’t list it with a realtor to start with because we do have a good following on our investment page. I listed it on zillow, but most of my marketing went through Facebook. We have sold many houses that way. We are not opposed to using a realtor, especially in situations that call for needing the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). I have held my realtor license in the past too, but I have let my license go already.
I was dreading keeping the house perfect and scheduling all the viewings. We had 3 scheduled by the first evening. The first showing was the following morning. It was a family of 8, and the 6 children were from infant to 7. All about 18 months apart. Ed and I looked at this young couple and both could see how they needed all the space our home has to offer. They gave me an offer before they even left, and after a short conversation with Ed, we accepted pretty immediately.
The way the market is, we could have probably shown it the other times and had a bidding war going. We just didn’t feel that was the right move this time. We both were immediately emotionally attached to this family getting the home. They had missed out on two others, and in this market it’s just grueling for buyers.
We have agreed to vacate the first week of August. We will then move Eddie to the town where his college is and our trip begins on August 11. Getting rid of our things has been the biggest ongoing project of my entire life. I have two totes of keepsakes I will store somewhere. Other than some things left that we are using and a few things we kept for staging, we are pretty close to done with that process. We probably have enough to maybe do one more sale.
The funniest part to me is when we were measuring the rooms for the listing and we realized we are about to live in an RV that has roughly the same square footage of our master bathroom! Gulp! At least I continue to see the little signs and signals that tell me we are on the right path.
Work is winding down
I have had many of my final meetings with my board, the executive committee, my last staff meeting, and the folks here had a wonderful going away party for me already. My last day in the office will be June 17, but I will serve as a consultant from home for a short while longer. I have tried to imagine what it will be like not to be employed or leaving the office for the last time, that’s a foreign concept to me. I have worked since I was 16 with the exception that I was fortunate enough to stay home with Eddie his first year.
I have been too busy to feel apprehensive, even though I am not sure I have ever had a bigger life revision all at once. I try and not worry in general, it’s not going to change the outcome anyway. I try and stay in the present as much as possible, as it’s truly the only place joy is found. I would like to take my cues from Eddie – drink it all in, enjoy it all, don’t miss out on any of the steps of the process, and feel like I have done everything to end this chapter well. It’s been a very good chapter. I loved our home and community, I love having my children at home with me, I loved my job. I was very lucky to have those experiences, and I want to show them all the appreciation they deserve. In the meantime, I think I will beam along with him as we share this final summer together.
On Our Way 